MILD TO COLD: Warm weather record-setting, but temporary

January 30, 2013

Weather in northeast Indiana has known many extremes in the month of January. Below-zero wind chill greeted the area a week-and-a-half ago, and Tuesday greeted citizens with record-warm temperatures.

Fort Wayne had a low temperature of 44 degrees Tuesday. This is the new record for warmest low temperature of the day. The previous mark was 43, set back in 2006.

â€śIt kind of underscores the warming trend. The records being broken are sometimes recent records,â€ť said Eric Lenning, acting meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service station in North Webster.

Other conditions have changed. The amount of rainfall sustained in the region within the past week has had an impact on the drought that has been affecting the state.

Drought conditions are still in effect for a good portion of the state. Northern Indiana is still considered abnormally dry, with the northwest portion of the state is also abnormally dry, with moderate drought conditions setting in by the Gary area and northeast Illinois.

While the moisture has helped the arid factors in the area, the timing has made it not as effective as it could have been.

With such rainfall, there are other dangers. Flooding has been a possibility, and some rivers in the area have swelled over the past couple days, but it is temporary.

Conditions so unseasonable were not meant to last, though. Thursdayâ€™s forecast has temperatures back down in the 20s, a reminder that the month on the calendar still says January. Wind chill values by Thursday night could be below zero for the area, as they were last week. That wraps up an interesting week, which has had fog, warmth, thunderstorms and heavy rainfall.

For a more in-depth look at this story, see the Jan. 30 issue of The Post and Mail. Don't have a subscription? Call (260) 244-5153 or subscribe to our e-edition. For breaking news, sports updates and additional coverage, bookmark the homepage and find us on facebook.